Proud to Know Them
by DORK DOG
Summary: One-Shot. Still suffering from her loss of the Doctor on the parallel world, Rose encounters a man in a local cafe who has also lost a dear friend, and the two reminisce on how they were proud to know such admirable heroes. Takes place after Doomsday and Reichenbach Fall.


**Here's a tiny one-shot I decided to write. It's really small, but I just felt like I had to do it. For Rose, it takes place after **_**Doomsday**_**, when she's trapped on the parallel world. I figured I could put John in the parallel world, too, just to imply that he was a parallel version of the fictitious John Watson from the books. For him, this takes place after the **_**Reichenbach**__**Fall**_**.**

**Please enjoy this little story I threw together in, like, half an hour :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing,**

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Rose brought the warm coffee cup to her lips, sipping the hot liquid tentatively. Pulling her sweatshirt closer about her shoulders, she scanned the café nonchalantly, the early morning crowd passing by. She felt almost awkward with real, everyday people surrounding her again. It was even weirder to know that she wasn't even on her own planet anymore. The parallel world seemed to have that effect on her. Rose had fought Daleks, travelled to the end of the world, and visited far-off planets never before seen by any other humans. But the real world was hardest thing to come to terms with.

It was weird adjusting to life without the Doctor to whisk her off in his TARDIS. Slow, everyday time had become almost unbearable, but it made her realize that she had been lucky to have met her mad-man with a box. The memory still ached horribly, but the young woman did her best to hide the pain over the course of the past few months. Little details of the Doctor still lurked and lingered in her mind, coming out at the worst opportunities. His cheerful brown eyes lighting up with glee. The way his hair stuck up on the ends, making him appear about ten times more handsome. His dashing blue suit and trainers. Though she had never admitted it until her final moments with him, Rose had known all along that she loved the Doctor. There was no doubt about it.

"Excuse me, miss?"

A voice cut through her thoughts, and Rose whirled around in alarm. "Is there something I can help you with?"

The man looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He wasn't much taller than Rose, but seemed to emanate a quiet, calm demeanor.

"Yeah. You seemed to have dropped your cash," he handed her a small wad of money.

"Oh!" Rose laughed softly. "Thank you. Sorry about that. I guess I was just distracted there."  
"Don't mention it," the man smiled kindly, extending his hand. "I'm John Watson, by the way."

"Rose Tyler," she accepted the gesture, and shook his hand. "Your name sounds familiar. Are you well known around here? Sorry, I'm a bit new in town."

John's countenance seemed to fall for a moment. "Yes, I, uh, suppose you could say that. I had a flatmate who was a consulting detective. _The_ consulting detective, might I add. He was the only one in the world." He shook his head. "Brilliant man. Too brilliant for his own good."

"You're speaking in the past tense," Rose began gently. "Did something happen? Of course, I'm not trying to intrude, so you don't have to talk about it."

"No, no, it's fine," John exclaimed. "He passed away a few weeks ago. It's been hard adjusting to life without seeing his crazy items strewn about the flat. He was a madman, I'll say, but a clever madman."

Rose's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry about your loss. I had a friend reminiscent of yours as well. He was a madman as well, but a hero, too. Sure, he had a multitude of enemies, but he could almost effortlessly outwit them with a few ideas that seemed harebrained at the time, but worked wonders when all was said and done. He was dashing, funny, and beyond brilliant."

"Is he-" John seemed to be asking the question with upmost care and gentleness.

"No, he's alive," Rose shook her head, and realized that her eyes were filling with tears. Blinking rapidly, she explained, "But… I'm probably never gonna see him again."

"Never say never," John smiled warmly, and it was all Rose could do not to burst into tears and make a fool out of herself from the memories those words brought.

Brushing her blonde hair out of her face, Rose managed a small smile. "Thank you, John. I am so sorry that I'm a mess. And I'm so sorry about your friend."

"I don't mind," John nodded. "It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who knew a hero as well as you did. I hope you find your friend soon, or he'll find you. People like that are few and far between, and we should both be proud, Rose."

Rose wanted to explain that she would never see the Doctor again. She was trapped on a parallel world, left behind to take the slow path of a mortal life, rather than travel the stars with the most wonderful man in the universe.

Instead, she replied, "Yeah. I am proud of him. And I wish you all the best."

With those words, the two bid each other farewell, and Rose was rejuvenated with a new vigor. The Doctor _was _a hero. A real hero. And she had been proud to know him.


End file.
